Born in the Isle of Man in the mid 80s organised running was not something I cared to have anything to do with at any time during my childhood! My earliest memories of running were of school cross country in what should have been the beautiful setting of Peel - but what I recall as being by myself tromping through a lot of muddy fields and lots of pain in trying to breathe - wondering why the school thought this was a sensible thing for 11 year olds to be doing!!!

I was however a big football fan - Manchester United specifically - thanks to my dad who is a big fan. Queue several birthday pilgrimages to the Theatre of Dreams - a bit of a trek from the isle!!

Lots of fun memories of great times growing up on the isle with my Mum, Dad and little sister Hannah!!

Uni Life

I studied Law at the University of Durham from 2003-2006 and met my lovely husband Sam. Also played a lot of football - Captained my College Team and the Uni 2nds, rowed for St Mary's College, and generally had lots of fun!

Being a Grown Up

After Uni I spent a year living in York whilst at Law School, then moved with Sam to Dewsbury where we lived on Halifax Road for 2 and a half years. We then bought a lovely little house in Horbury Bridge in 2010.

In 2011 running finally made an appearance in my life!! In 2010 Sam's auntie Becky was diagnosed with cancer and tragically lost her battle only 8 weeks later. I entered the London Marathon and, miraculously, managed to get a place through the ballot. I trained by myself for 6 months and was thoroughly chuffed to finish in a time of 5hrs 56mins 41secs. I had an amazing day but had no intention of ever lacing up my trainers again - the shin splints didn't help either!!

Since then...

To cut a bit of a long story short I got married in August 2011 and between January 2012 and the summer of 2013 I got healthy and lost 50lbs! Throughout this time I bimbled about with a bit of running - the odd 10k here or there with no real intention of doing anything other than keeping fit. After some personal training in late 2013 I decided it was time to set some realistic but challenging goals and one chilly day in January I discovered the magic that is Parkrun!

Parkrun and Dewsbury Road Runners

At my second Parkrun I met some lovely people from Dewsbury Road Runners and signed up within a week!! I haven't looked back since!

Whilst I do still sometimes feel the same pain I felt running school cross country races all those years ago I can now say I love being part of a running club and community. I am slowly learning my way around all the roads and trails of West Yorkshire and I hope to keep knocking those PBs down for as long as I can!!